Cicero's Songs

Well, look lets face it, we all cringed a bit when Boris Johnson tuned up at the bird's nest stadium in Peking looking- frankly- rather scruffy. The fact that he seemed to be treating the great occasion with a certain amount of levity was certainly noted with disapproval by his Chinese hosts. Personally I was only relieved that he did not drop the Olympic flag- and a couple of times I must say my heart was rather in my mouth. It was not a particularly auspicious start to the next four years of London as an Olympic city. On the other hand, though, it was clearly gall and wormwood for Ken Livingstone to have to merely watch the spectacle that he had rather hoped to have been at the centre of. After the announcement that Livingstone is now to be the paid advisor of the windbag wannabe dictator of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, it quite brightens my day to think how much Ken must have been consumed with envy. Personally, I hope that he stays in Caracas for a very long while, since it may ta...

The steady stream of exposees and innuendo about Ken Livingstone have become a crescendo. The latest is the full length Dispatches programme, which comes on top of a consistent set of stories from Andrew Gilligan in the Evening Standard . The implication is that Ken Livingstone is a drunk and sleazy politician. As regular readers of this blog will note, that is a view that I have put forward for some time. I do not believe he is fit for office. I do believe he should be replaced. However, the leading opponent of Crony Ken is currently the equally absurd Boris Johnson . The litany of Johnson's questionable career begins with the fact that he was sacked for making up quotations for an article he wrote as a trainee journalist. Despite his starter marriage, which ended in divorce, and a further marriage which produced four children, Johnson caught the public eye when he lied rather obviously about his considerable philandering, including a four year affair with Petronella Wyatt amongs...

Last night was the first of doubtless many debates between the candidates for Mayor of London. To be honest I have been in a gentle kind of despair about the idea of Ken Livingstone, who I believe to be incompetent, doctrinaire and rather crooked, holding on to his job. Certainly, the idea of Boris Johnson- the clownish, gaffe prone Conservative candidate- replacing Livingstone is really not appealing at all. I think I prefer the dubious crook to the embarrassing clown. However, one candidate last night actually did come over as a sound and sensible figure. Brian Paddick was a guy who one can imagine dealing with - God forbid- a major terrorist incident. He also has interesting ideas about how to tackle the mess in transport and already knows far more than other two do about Policing. He is clearly thoughtful and intelligent. Between the posturing of the two gargoyles -Ken and Boris- Brian Paddick looks extremely good. If Boris's campaign implodes , as it easily might, and the ru...

In the six months since Gordon Brown became Prime Minister there has been an extraordinary volatility about British politics. Opinion polls have shown first a strong Labour lead, then, following the mishandling of the speculation concerning a possible autumn election, the Conservatives took the lead. The election fever that gripped the country created unexpected pressures: the Conservative leader was able to relieve the pressure on him by some astute handling of his party conference. Liberal Democrats, by contrast, were squeezed so intensively that Ming Campbell felt compelled to stand down. Now, as we enter 2008, a new political agenda seems to be emerging. Gordon Brown, somewhat battered by the blow back from the election that never was, has begun to launch a charm offensive in the media: a long interview with the Observer yesterday was paired with an appearance on the Andrew Marr show and then this morning he was on the Today programme. A veritable blizzard of appearances from a ...

Since our beloved Prime Minister chose to avoid going to the country in Autumn 2007, it does not seem hugely likely that he would call a general election in 2008. So, it seems likely that 2008 in British politics will be more interested in local elections than anything else. We have the interesting challenge of the London mayoral elections. This may yet prove to be a more open and interesting contest than it appears. To be honest, the Conservatives, by choosing Boris Johnson, have essentially admitted that the game is up. Although the gaffe-prone and disorganised Henley MP- we are told- is also possessed of finely tuned media antennae, the same could be said of Charlie Caroli . In fact, as at the Ealing Southall by election, it is the weak judgement of David Cameron that fixed on Boris as pretty much the only figure prepared to take on Ken Livingstone. Boris Johnson can not win the London election. Ken Livingstone, however, is increasingly embroiled in his own problems. The disgracefu...

An absolute joy to see the vile Tommy Sheridan being charged with perjury . I commented at the time on what- even then- seemed his dubious acquittal, that we had not heard the last of the case . I for one look forward to justice being done to one of the most negative influences on Scottish politics in recent years. Then again, only a few days after commenting that the role of the First Minister in the Balmedie Golf fiasco seemed pretty questionable, it seems that indeed Wee Eck now has to face questions over precisely what and when he did things. I certainly hope that the Curse of Cicero will fall on their heads and on that of Mr. Livingstone , who has also been a little closer to certain allegations than we might have expected.

I was at a wedding a few years back when a very nice Conservative Lady came in (a little late) and sat down next to me and with an air of triumph declared that : “I am late because we Conservatives have been selecting our candidate for Mayor of London. Its great news: its going to be Jeffrey Archer !!" My jaw hit the floor. I really did not know whether to congratulate her, as she clearly expected , or to commiserate her on the inevitable doom to follow. Boris Johnson may not be a crook (although of course his ex-mate Darius Guppy is)- but who needs another Archer-style “character”? I am with those who think that the Tories will rue the day- whether it is that Boris gets found in bed with a giraffe or some other more outre offence against sense and decency, I suspect that he will come to grief somewhere. As regular readers will know, Ken Livingstone has always struck me as a pretty sleazy kind of politician, with a far bigger ego than his "cheeky chappy" TV persona woul...

"Whom the Gods would destroy, they first make mad" Euripides The ecstatic reaction of the Tory bloggers to the possible selection of Boris Johnson as their candidate for Mayor of London is bizarre. I do recall the last time the Conservatives went for a well known but slightly "eccentric" candidate. Of course that was Jeffrey Archer. Boris has a whole cemetery of skeletons in his cupboard, and may yet end up being found in bed with a camel or something equally inappropriate. His persona of dotty bafflement hides an ambitious but rather undisciplined character. So the choice is set to be the corrupt and thoroughly nasty Ken Livingstone or the demented Boris Johnson. If the Liberal Democrats can find anyone who is not a gargoyle we might just end up being in with a chance!

Although I was back in the office yesterday, it was something of a quiet day- few people around. As I arrived at my local tube station the joy of the latest tube fare increases was fully apparent: a zone one journey has gone from an extortionate £3 to an eye popping £4- a 33% increase. As usual Ken "sobersides" Livingstone came out with some tosh to justify this disgraceful state of affairs. London tube fares are not just higher than any other major city in the world- they are a multiple of the fares in any other major city in the world. This, together with the near doubling of bus fares and the likely further increase in the congestion charge beyond £8 a day, is just another example of the punishment that the incompetent administration in City Hall visits upon Londoners. I might feel less aggrieved, were it not for the constant drip of Mayoral propaganda on posters across the tube network: the latest being an anti-nuclear poster campaign. Frankly, the cost/benefits of nuclea...

Sorry to be a cracked record, but I see that Mayor Ken Livingstone is claiming that his trip to Cuba and Venezuela was a very modest one . It cost £36,000! (€54,000 or just under $70,000 for our international readers) for a trip that did not even bring about its stated aim of the dubious deal with mad cap dictator Hugo Chavez. Next time Mr. Livingstone wishes to take a break in the axis of evil and its allies, I wonder if he might not try North Korea - on a one way ticket, please.

Interesting that Livingstone, who apparently can not tell democratic America from dictatorial Cuba , found that Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez is as mercurial with his "friends " as he is with everyone else. As a tax payer, I rather think that Mr. Livingstone should repay the cost of these trips. Anyone who wants Britain to be more like Cuba under Castro or Venezuela under Chavez is either deluded, stupid or evil. Perhaps Livingstone will stand "indefatigably" with George Galloway in the Dunce's corner of British politics -reserved for those who kow-tow to the enemies of our country.